Cannelle Patisserie - April 17, 2011

“Consistent, Affordable and Exquisite” is the tripartite motto of Cannelle Patisserie, and which I whole-heartedly embrace and uphold. In order to live by such a motto, I am willing to sacrifice my personal property – a pair of new shoes – and bleed my own red blood – in the form of blisters – and start a revolution.

Starting with affordability, Cannelle truly cares about the equality of his patrons; compared to the aptly named, blue-blooded Lady M, their cakes are equally and fraternally available to all comers, provided that if one is willing to venture out into the middle of nowhere – a strip mall.

Croissant

Consistency I cannot speak for, except for the pate à croissant, as used in the regular butter croissant and the almond. Roughly speaking, a pate à croissant is 25% butter (at least, according to Le Cordon Bleu); conversely, it is 50% flour. Therefore, the qualities of the butter and the flour are essential and critical; in other words, they are necessary conditions - not sufficient (because “skill” is another necessary condition), for example) - for the croissant to be delicious. Of these two conditions, most bakeries – i.e. Ceci-Cela and Payard - fail most miserably on one necessary condition in particular: the butter (preferably and ideally cultured).*

*On the other hand, Claude had failed on skill (I cannot comment on pre-departure of Monsieur Cladue) for its over-baking and the density of the inner layers (my mandibles are quite over-worked as they are).

Although Cannelle’s croissants would not win any beauty pageant, the relatively light-skinned crescents demonstrated ample layering to pass the first round of elimination. The thin-skinned outer layer did not give out the satisfactory shatter; and, each inner layer was airy with cavernous hollows in-between. Consistent with this light approach, the croissants did not ooze butter as the one at Claude, but a subtle sweetness was released as the dough got warmed in the mouth. This pleasant croissant for the masses, I am sure, would fit right in on the shelves of supermarkets in France; even those mass, factory-produced ones in France are often better than what a lot of money can buy in New York.

Almond Croissant

Is it the affordability that is hindering Cannelle from achieving exquisiteness? The cookie layer was meagerly thin; while the almond paste, if one could call it that, was utterly flavorless, being entirely devoid of the delightful gritty nuttiness; instead, it suspiciously had the consistency of creeping corn starch.

Creole - Chocolate sponge cake, white & dark chocolate mousse, coffee syrup, thin layers of chocolate

The exquisite façade of the chocolate mousse cake was deceptive; it was marred by the viscous and vile coffee syrup glaçage, which tasted as sugary and plebian as Hershy’s chocolate syrup. The cake was technically well-executed, which Marie Antoinette would have approved; however, the ingredients must have not have come from the Petite Trianon. The dark chocolate mouse lacked the advertised "dark"-ness, which was milky and watery at most. The saving grace was the paper-thin chocolate rectangles, adoring the cake like a fence; due to excellent tempering technique, it surrendered immediately upon being contacted by the warmth of my tongue like a snowflake.

Coffee

Ever consistent with the light approach, the coffee was thin.

Let us not guillotine Lady M. I am going to show some support for the nobility by taking myself over to Lady M.

Cannelle PatisserieAddress: 75-59 31st Ave, Jackson Heights, Queens, NY 11370
Phone: (718) 565-6200